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Posts Tagged ‘Anglosphere’

This picture of the G8 Leaders sitting around a table together, is very symbolic because whilst they can arrange a meeting and deliver a conference, the one thing that they can’t do is deliver their electorates.

Solving the Euro crisis would be simple if either the Eurozone countries opted for a “United States of Europe” where all resources are pooled, both assets and liabilities or, Germany accepted ‘funding’ such a programme without such a structure. The real problem as the election of Hollande in France and the non-election of any kind of government in Greece demonstrates is that the average European voter is not prepared to face reality.

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With the UK currently having the rotating chair for the European Court of Human Rights and David Cameron visiting it to deliver a speech to all 47 members with the theme of reforming the way it operates, there is a fluttering in the Dove Cots of the “European Elite” ever prepared to defend their entrenched positions of privilege. As with many things, the actual “truth” behind the operation of the ECHR and our own, one suspects, very badly drafted Human Rights Act may well be fairly complex and difficult to unravel if left only to the Lawyers.

However, the political reality is all too apparent as the recent decision that the radical cleric Abu Qatada cannot be deported to Jordan where he comes from, is a case in point. David Cameron or even Ed Miliband if he were the current British Prime Minister, cannot ignore the political realities even when you warn that “Hard Cases make bad laws…”

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Yesterday, there was a report published by a self appointed committee into the question of changing the Law within the UK to allow assisted suicide. The committee was headed by Lord Faulkner and was set up by Dignity in Dying, a lobby group, and paid for by the author Sir Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer’s disease and is campaigning for changes to allow assisted suicide.

To that extent one may rightly argue that it represents a bias and therefore taints its conclusions in the same way that a “Tory Think Tank” publishing a report recommending that people should vote Conservative would. However and within all this lies something else to my mind, the whole discussion holds up a mirror to what is becoming a Narcissistic society that has lost touch not just with religious values but with the values that have underpinned humanity throughout the ages and regardless of time and place.

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The Daily Telegraph has become, by and large, a bit of a ‘no go area’ for me, far too many moaning old duffers in the comments section to bother with, I personally suspect that it ought to be renamed, “The Daily Whineograph”. But if ‘politics’ on there is bad, the ‘motoring’ section is even worse…

Land Rover has a ‘concept’ vehicle which could form the basis of a ‘Defender’ (think original Land Rover, mud, farms etc.), replacement at a show in California and a DT journalist got to drive it and take pictures, the reader’s feedback was little short of hilarious and most of it seemed so totally out of touch with reality, I did have to have a pop ! However, what really engaged me was the whole issue of building upon a brand success without becoming tied into a long gone past.

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I believe that David Cameron is a pretty good Prime Minister, truly a man for the times we live in, pragmatic not dogmatic, a cool and relaxed character so, I find his stance over the EU Referendum Debate not only odd but totally misguided, what on Earth is he thinking of in putting down a 3 line whip ?

Sorry, this is piss poor judgement and could have easily been avoided. David Cameron should never have painted himself into a corner over this one, it has a “cost” but no benefit for these Islands, him personally or even his Party in return for that cost. Daft Bugger this is where “Feet of Clay” get exposed !

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I have read various articles concerning the various protest campaigns on Wall Street, in London and so on but haven’t rushed to write about them as they seem to be all rather soft, confused, lacking in focus or with any particular goals in mind. In simple terms they are best summed up with a statement like; “We don’t like this and it isn’t fair…”

What no one has seemed to grasped and in this I include the Bankers, Industrialists and Politicians too, is the exact nature of the problem let alone, what kind of solutions may be applicable. In a sense, we all seem similarly as frozen and devoid of ideas as the Generals were when faced with trench warfare in WWI and the significance of including the statue of Cromwell in the graphic will I hope become clearer in due course.

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Following the targeted assassination in the Yemen of Anwar al-Awlaki and three al-Qaeda associates by a drone on September 30^th various questions have been raised within the United States concerning the “extra-judicial” nature of this killing because two of them were US citizens.

To be fair to Americans, this is not an argument based upon whether a “US life is more valuable than any other” but in the ever litigious United States whether his “Rights under the American Constitution” were violated. Therefore the question becomes one of “Were the people who ordered and actually carried out the attack from within the borders of the USA, therefore guilty of a criminal offence ?” The drone actually being operated from a base in Nevada.

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I have written about my memories and personal ties to this particular date before and will later summarize them again because they are all rather odd in the sense that I can not recall any other day in my life which has ever been connected in the same way to such a significant “news event” via so many different ‘threads’.

However, 10 years is a significant anniversary and as good a time as any to reflect on the impact of those days one of which I experienced, as so many others do on my recent holiday in the USA. Having to check in for your flight very early, US Customs/Immigration, never a barrel of laughs, as surly as ever. But also there are the political dimensions not all of which have led to bad outcomes, some indeed may well be very beneficial in the medium term.

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In the UK our “Sacred Cow” and some may argue, “White Elephant” too is the National Health Service which no politician and however rational their approach, may touch let alone reform properly as is so obviously required. The equivalent in the United States is Defence Spending or the Pentagon Budget and the same restrictions on reform of that puppy apply there too.

A running story (since 2001), is the progress or rather lack of progress of the Joint Strike Fighter which by common consent is likely to be the last manned fighter aircraft as unmanned drones will likely be the future of military warfare. Known as the F35, although the majority of the work is done in the USA, several International partners including the UK are taking part in the program in both funding and the manufacture of sub-assemblies for it. This project to my mind illustrates perfectly the many problems both military and economic that confronts the Western Nations today.

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Having taken a tiny netbook on holiday with me, I have browsed the British media from abroad which is quite amusing, the BBC in America carries adverts ! There was an interesting John Rentoul Blog that caught my attention: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/06/25/cameron-and-detail/

The question being posed concerned the issue of whether or not, DNA evidence collected by the Police during the course of an investigation should be retained “On File” even though the individual was not charged with any kind of offence. It is an interesting problem which could be argued either way, my views are as follows:

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